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Our today’s guest is a person I know for over 4 years, a good motivator, my business advisor and a successful entrepreneur from South Korea. Kim Ik lives in Seoul Korea with an established business engaged with importing various school items. He has been constantly dealing with international manufacturers from different countries particularly in China, Vietnam and other parts of Asia.

When I was aspiring to be a manufacturer agent for Indonesian manufacturers way back 2007, I met Mr. Kim (that’s what I use to call him) through a website. I can hardly remember what website was it since I joined more than 20 sites at that moment (LOL). Whether it’s Alibaba or other B2B portals, I am grateful to have met him. I gathered information on Indonesian manufacturers and look for business opportunities in Indonesia for him. That is where our harmonious relationship started and continuously growing through the years. We keep in touch through Skype until now.

Culture and language has never been a problem between us. In fact, it became a source of interesting conversations and additional knowledge to learn. He is also my personal Korean language instructor (free of charge). It is also amazing to know that he speaks English fluently knowing that it is not his first language. He has shared the beauty of South Korean cultures and traditions. Although he travels a lot in China and various Asian countries, he always spends sometime to sit back and appreciate the beautiful weather of Korea, enjoy the reliably high internet speed (arrrghh…I’m green with envy), delightful Korean delicacies (I’m starving), as well as the friendly and organized people of Korea.

Question:

As an importer of school items, your business requires you to deal with other countries’ manufacturers producing your items as an OEM project, how do you manage communicating with them? Has language ever been a problem?

Answer:

Well, I usually use English to communicate. Communications has never been a problem for me. If I went to the countries where I couldn’t get someone that can speak English, then I would get a translator service. I have someone also in China that has been working with me for years, he’s a good translator, native Chinese but speaks Korean fluently.

Question:

How did the internet serve as a tool to support your daily business activities?

Answer:

It was about… I think more that 15 years ago, I started using email and web fax to communicate with other country’ partners. Using internet is surely one cost effective solution, its fast and real time access also enables us to communicate with business partners at anytime anywhere. Especially with Skype, it’s easier to contact people abroad.

Question:

Why don’t you want to have a website for your business? May I ask for your reason/s?

Answer:

It’s not that I don’t want to have a website, but uploading and updating data will make me get a headache, LOL. Although the production for my product is done overseas, my target sales is local market, where most websites will use Hangeul characters and platform. I believe that if I decided to build a website, then I might not be able to use international programmer’s service as it won’t be too efficient.

Question:

How do you find B2B portals helpful to your business?

Answer:

It might be good for references only. Most of the time, I found it doesn’t really work. I prefer to have a direct approach to the manufacturers, it’s more secure. I joined some of B2B portals just to see if there’s interesting items that I can purchase or qualified manufacturers that can produce my items, but I don’t really rely on the website for my business.

About Kim Ik:

Kim Ik is school items importer living in Seoul Korea. He imported student shoes (Korean students must wear this type of shoes when they were in the class room where sport shoes will only be used for outdoor activity), school stationeries and bags for Korean market. He’s been doing the business for years and has built a very good relationship with manufacturers, mostly in Asia.

Being able to meet my clients personally would definitely be one of the most valued moments in my life, since working as a virtual assistant made it nearly impossible for me to meet them as most of them are based abroad. It would really be nice to see face to face the person whom I am working with, the one I’m spending time chatting, brainstorming and sharing great stories and ideas. Most of all, I am thankful to finally meet the person who have taught me to never give up on work and motivates me to achieve my goal.

The last day of June 2011 at the lobby of Kempinsky Hotel, Jakarta was surely a moment worth remembering and worth sharing since that was the time I met Simon Collier, he’s one of my clients in the online business. I am so grateful that he spent some time to see me. We had a nice time chatting and he discussed the project that he’s about to assign me for the next two months. He was great, smiling face and he has a very nice personality.

Simon is currently working as Managing Director for Sondent Group (HK) Ltd. The company specializes in providing consulting services that are focused on operations and product development in the securities, custody, fund and wealth platform industries. Their expertise includes work with global custodians, sub-custodians, fund administrators, broker-dealers, mutual funds, investment advisors and technology firms. He’s a US citizen born in UK. He travels a lot from time to time to US, Europe and Asia including Indonesia. His business visit to Indonesia has always been arranged by one of the biggest banks in the country.

“One thing I will never forget about Simon, he has NEVER assigned an EASY project, LOL! It’s always difficult! I nearly gave up when doing his first project, but he never let me quit.” Let’s just put it this way, I learn new things the HARD way! LOL! But, I am forever thankful for all the knowledge I have gained on the tasks that he’s assigning me.

During our conversation, he also mentioned he’s surprised to find someone from Indonesia to work as a virtual assistant. He’s been to Indonesia for a couple of times, but never found anyone that seems familiar with the virtual assistant job or something like that.

“Virtual assistant as a profession is quite common in United States. Many people decide to work at home and become freelancers. Either it is small or big companies, we got used to hire freelancer service as in some way it’s proven to be an effective solution for the business.” said Simon.

“I really think it’s a smart move to have your own business at home. You can work anytime you want, choose who you prefer to work with and select what kinds of projects you would like to get involved in. This is the best solution for a stay at home mom who previously worked but wishes to continue her career while giving quality time taking care of her kids.

I do agree! I am a proud mom and a career woman in my own way, and being a virtual assistant is one of the best decisions that I have ever made!

Simon Collier short biography:

25 years experience in the securities industry and is the founder of Sondent Group, a consulting company specializing in the investment administration and custody space, including: product management; technology & operations; and, complex outsourcing arrangements. He has undertaken numerous projects in the US and Asia, and has extensive experience in China. Before starting Sondent, he served as President of Fore side Financial Group – a US fund services company. He also served as Treasurer or President of a number of US Mutual Fund companies. Prior to this, he was a Managing Director and COO of Citigroup’s Securities and Fund Services business and has also held various management positions within the securities services businesses of Chase Manhattan Bank and HSBC.

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